Just A Little Jara Story
by TheEmptyOwl
Summary: Exactly what the title says. Mara Jaffray and Mick Campbell are hopelessly in love. But when an tragic accident leaves Mara distressed and self-conscious, it slowly dawns on her that Mick may not be so hopelessly in love with her after all. And when a certain handsome, blond makes himself known, everything changes.


**Hello! I'd really appreciate it if you read this authors note! pleeease!**

**Firstly, I know I've been away for absolutely ages... but I have no idea how to continue my story 'Missing You' which is also a Jara story like this one.**

**I have in some chapters asked for prompts or ideas, and I have received some PMs and they were all really good ideas that I would ****_love_**** to use, but they were all ideas for the end of the story. I really need to know what you'd like to see in the next chapter of it- like a small storyline I could weave into the story I have already because I don't want the whole story to be centred around Mara and for it to get too repetitive.**

**it's kind of my fault really that I uploaded the story without knowing the ending myself- which is why I've planned this story the whole way through!**

**i'm sorry that this was long, but this is sort of my final way of asking you to PM ideas for my other story 'Missing You'. Especially because some people have sent me PMs asking me to continue with the story :(**

**Thanks for reading (if you did) :D**

She sat outside on a wooden bench, trying to kill some time. She was outside the hotel where she and Mick were _supposed_ to be on a two-week romantic getaway, but they had been here for two days so far and both nights he had gone out with friends. Well, the main purpose of being here was so Mick could play his big sports tournament, but he had promised that they could spend some time together. And deep down, Mara knew the reason for why Mick constantly made excuses to avoid spending any time with her, but it wasn't her fault.

After the accident, she always knew that things wouldn't be the same, but she never expected for Mick's feelings for her to change. But they did. And she found that she blamed herself, when in fact it wasn't her fault at all.

Mara didn't move, instead she thought hard, when suddenly a loud voice brought her out of her train of thought.

"What are you staring at?" The voice asked, more like demanded.

Suddenly Mara became embarrassed and nervous; she had no idea that she was staring at someone, she didn't even know someone had sat down next to her!

"Oh, um, I d-didn't mean to stare… I-I should go..." She struggled to string together a sentence with her clumsy words. It was then that the stranger realised that this woman was blind, and his eyes softened immediately, as did the rest of his face, not that she would notice.

"No, wait!" He called after her, but she had already gone.

* * *

He had felt so bad about earlier, that he still had a picture of her in his mind, and as he thought about their encounter, he leaned back into the soft, plump armchair.

He was in one of the hotels common rooms. It was a big hotel- big as in spacious, not big as in it had a million rooms. This way, even if the hotel was fully booked, the guests never felt as if the hotel was crowded. It was quite a big common room, with sofas and chairs dotted around the place but he had the best seat: an armchair in front of the fireplace.

There was a table in front of him, and in front of the table was another armchair, identical to his own. To his left was the fireplace which, right now, was the only source of light. It was way past midnight and all the other guests from this part of the hotel had retired to bed, but he was still awake, wishing that he could meet her again.

And as if someone had heard his wish, in walked the woman from before, clutching a book in her hand and an uncertain look on her face. The man immediately stood up upon seeing her.

"Um, hi," He said quietly so as not to startle her.

""Hi?" she questioned, obviously unaware about who was talking to her, though something in her mind told her his voice was familiar.

He moved towards her and softly grasped one of her hands in his and she immediately let out a small gasp at the contact, though she didn't pull away. Instead, Mara let the stranger guide her through the room and surprisingly missed the feel of his soft hand on hers when he let go.

"Sit down." The man said, but his voice was gentle and caring, not demanding like before.

Mara moved her arm about, the one that wasn't holding the book, and she felt something: velvet. She stroked the fine material with her free hand and tried to process what it was when she moved back slightly and the back of her knees came to contact with the same material.

The man, rather than telling her that it was an armchair, watched in awe and wonder as the woman tried to puzzle out what it was.

Upon realising that it was a chair, she sat down, slowly, and unsurely but relaxed as she leaned further into the cushions. The man lifted his eyebrows in shock and silently praised her for her work. She made no attempt to start a conversation and neither did he, for a moment the only noise was the crackle of the fire.

The man did not find the silence uncomfortable at all, because he could see exactly what she was doing and he knew who she was- well, he didn't know her name, or anything about her really, but he knew that they had met before. Whereas Mara found the silence awkward and almost unbearable, she had no idea who this man was, or what he was doing.

"Um, who are you?" she asked quietly, breaking the silence. It wasn't what she wanted to say, but it was something she wanted to know.

"I'm Jerome. Jerome Clarke… we met earlier?"

Mara's eyebrows stitched together as she tried to think, and suddenly the horrid memory of this afternoon came flooding back to her head. As they did so, Mara's eyes shot up in shock.

"Oh, oh my gosh! That was…that was you?"

"yes," Jerome chuckled, "But I d-"

"I am so sorry! About earlier, I mean… I had no idea you were sat next to me and- god, I can be so oblivious sometimes and-"

She kept stuttering through her speech and Jerome chuckled- there was no reason for her to apologise!

"Don't be sorry. It's me that should be sorry! And as I was saying, I do believe we got off on the wrong foot earlier, and I'd love it… if we could start again?"

"Start again? Jerome, this is a hotel- we probably won't even see each other after we leave! But, of course, I accept your apology… would you accept mine?"

"You have nothing to apologise for! I had no idea you were…umm-"

"Blind?"

"See? We're already finishing off each other's sentences. We're bound to be friends even after we leave!"

Mara giggled at that… Jerome was nothing like the man she had met earlier at the bench, it's as if they were two different people, and she liked this Jerome better- _a lot better. _When she mentioned her blindness, he didn't sympathise or take pity on her, though he probably did in his head. He had made a joke out of it- which any other blind person would have taken offence to (quite seriously too, at that) but to Mara, it was refreshing. Others pitying over her became tiring.

"I made you laugh!" he pointed out, "So…what do you say? Friends?"

"Friends" she smiled.

"So, the book you've got in your hand…" he mentioned, noting the small green book in her hand. Mara placed it on her lap and covered it with both hands.

"What about it?" She questioned.

"It's in Braille, right?"

"Yeah…" She answered.

"Sorry, I'm not really good with the whole… blind thing…" he admitted truthfully.

"A lot of people aren't, Jerome," She said softly, almost sadly, and he loved the way his name fell off of her lips in such a loving manner. "It's okay."

"Can I see? Your book, I mean."

Mara held the book up, hesitantly, and extended it in front of her, unsure of where Jerome was. Jerome leaned forward to take the book from her hand, which was pointing in the wrong direction, but he didn't mention it.

Instead, he read the cover: _Practising Braille_. She was still learning to read Braille? He opened the book and was overwhelmed at all the dots he saw- this must be harder than he thought. He ran a long finger across the paper, taking in the feel.

On the page, there was a sentence of Braille, and underneath a sentence in English. This continued throughout the book- except as the book progressed, the vocabulary of the sentences became more sophisticated and increased in length.

"Why are there sentences written in English?" he asked

"Oh, well… you're supposed to read the book with a partner really. I have to try and figure out what the Braille says, then I tell my partner what I think the sentence says… my partner then sees if the sentence I guessed matches the sentence in English below- if it does…well then I got it right!"

"Oh… and…you have a partner?"

"No… not really," She explained, but she couldn't see Jerome's expression of joy as she said this. In actual fact he was quite infatuated with her. She had Mick, of course, but when had Mick ever picked up a book voluntarily- even for Mara's sake? So she always practised by herself, and never knew if the sentences she read were correct or not… but what else was she to do? "I practise by myself, mostly…"

"Well, now you have me!" he offered and she smiled gratefully.

"Thank you Jerome," She yawned, "but I should really be going to sleep."

"Okay," He sighed, standing up when she did, "but at least allow me to walk you back to your room."

She giggled and nodded, and he walked over to her to link his arm with hers and as he did so Mara heard soft clinks in his strides… and now that she thought about it she heard them earlier too, but she quickly dismissed it. They linked their arms together before they walked up the stairs.

**review? and it would mean a LOT if you PM me with ideas for my other story (sorry, I had to ask again!)**


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